My Favorite Holiday Song

If I were ever to record a pop single it would have to be a holiday song. Why? Well those seem to have the best shelf life of all forms of music. Without fail, this time of year it is guaranteed that no matter how obscure the band may be, if they recorded a pop song about the holiday. It is bound to get airplay this time of year. You may never hear another note from them for the rest of the year, but come December they come back for another pass.

I’d like to think that for most folks, pop music serves as both entertainment as well as a sort of historical placeholder for us. Certain songs are so clearly associated with certain times of our lives that when we hear them we cannot help but be reminded of that time and place. Needless to say, with all the pop Christmas songs on the raido this week it has been hard to not get a bit nostalgic.

My favorite song of the season still has to be Harvey Danger’s “Sometimes you have to work on Christmas (sometimes)” You may have heard of these guys? They were (and still are) a local Seattle band that had a brief run up the pop charts back in the late 90’s. (If you have not heard of them, you really owe it to yourself to check them out. They still do some shows too.)

Some might say that this is a depressing tune. A sad song about isolation and loneness really. Me, I’d call it a perfect pop gem. A beautiful moment that captures that feeling of being isolated on a day when you are supposed to feel connected to something. Every time I hear it, I am reminded of those times in my life when I felt that way.

Care to take a listen for yourselves? The band has generously made a huge part of their catalog free, so here is the single. They also made a video that is just fantastic you can see it here.